League of Tomorrow: The Phoenix
by Side Quest Publications
Summary: Following Leonard Snart's recon mission in Infantano Street, the Legends travel to Nanda Parbat in 1438 to learn more about Savage's interest in the Phoenix and to discover why the information was erased from the League's history.
1. Debriefing

**In which the Legends of Tomorrow discuss another approach to fighting Vandal Savage.**

 **Note: This chapter (in my head) follows immediately upon an as-yet-unposted scene in Catalyst (thus the first few paragraphs). I _wasn't_ going to upload this one until I actually finished that one, due to the connection, but since this chapter (indeed this story) doesn't spoil the events of that story I finally decided it should be fine to upload as is.  
Connections to other fics, as always, will be listed in the footer.  
**

 **Note on translations: Just like when Carter mentioned it in Necropolis, and just like my other attempts to develop League names, the Arabic translation of The Phoenix is courtesy of Google Translate.**

 **All characters seen or mentioned copyright DC, CW, et al.**

* * *

When Leonard woke again, he no longer felt numb, and he was only a little sore from the fight and Gideon's attempts to heal him.

But he was entirely too restless. He wanted to return to his own quarters and relatively comfortable bed to enjoy this rare opportunity to simply laze about, or perhaps to catch up on reading that wasn't critical to the job.

But he knew from past experience that if he tried to wander off, either he'd be ordered straight back to the Med Bay, or Rip would assume he was well enough for a debriefing and to rejoin the mission.

How ironic that they were on a _time machine_ , and yet they rarely seemed to have time to simply enjoy themselves. Did Rip truly not understand how important downtime was to their ability to function, or did his desire for revenge completely override whatever good sense he claimed to possess?

In the end, it was pure boredom that sent him drifting back to sleep. And pure hunger that drove him, hours later, to wander towards the kitchen.

"Would my favorite AI mind if I had roasted salmon and potatoes and a mug of cocoa?" Leonard said. "Pick whatever seasoning you think is best, but please keep it light."

"Absolutely," Gideon replied. "Excellent choices under the circumstances, Mr. Snart. You're learning."

Leonard shrugged before he picked up the dishes that had materialized on the counter and arranged them on the table. The portions the AI had given him were small, no doubt to keep him from overdoing it until he was certain he'd fully recovered from the recent attack. He should've been irritated at Gideon for making that decision for him, but he would've made the same choice; he didn't like to waste food, after all, even if it was synthetic.

"What's the point of having a fully automated kitchen that can produce any food I could ever want if I can't enjoy some fine dining _and_ eat healthy at the same time?"

"Oh, please!" Mick snorted behind him. "You'd be eatin' just as much junk food as me if Gideon let you." He pushed past Leonard and snagged a beer from the fridge. "And what fine dining? You got _cocoa_ for god's sake. And not one of the fancy kinds either, I'll bet." He waved at the steaming mug with his bottle. "With extra marshmallows, looks like."

"Says the guy who won't drink anything without alcohol," Leonard said.

"I ain't the one tryin' to flatter a computer," Mick replied.

"True art is _made_ to be admired," Leonard said. "That includes the art of a good meal."

"I guess we know why Gideon likes _you_ so much," Sara said.

"Looks like we've got a regular teacher's pet on our hands," Kendra added.

"You all know perfectly well I never give praise if it is not deserved," Leonard protested. He looked up to glare at the two women in the doorway, and saw Rip standing behind them. " _No_."

"Oh, don't worry, Mr. Snart," Rip said. "Debriefing can wait; I trust your memory will keep long enough for you to finish eating."

"You trust his memory," Kendra said, "or you trust how inventive Gideon can be if she thinks you're interfering with his recovery?"

"Er... both," Rip admitted. "Though, of course, if Mr. Snart was _willing_ to answer a few questions while he eats..."

"I _said_ no," Leonard repeated. "Go away." He took a bite of the fish and immediately detected a hint of garlic amid flavors he didn't recognize. The taste was stronger than he was accustomed to, but it complemented the fish instead of overpowering it. And it was no seasoning... a little digging produced a garlic bulb buried amid the potatoes. "My compliments to the chef," he said before he popped the whole bulb into his mouth.

"I thought you would appreciate the addition," Gideon replied. "Particularly given the restorative properties to be found in fresh garlic."

Kendra sat down at the table while Sara fetched more drinks from the fridge.

Rip, meanwhile, remained in the doorway and watched until Leonard had cleared half of his plate. "Um..."

Leonard sighed. "Does ruining my appetite count as interfering?"

"Seriously, Rip," Sara said. "Would you let him _enjoy_ his meal for once? We're on a _time machine_ for crying out loud; you can afford to wait until he's ready."

Rip nodded. "I should probably return to my study," he said, "see if there's anything we've missed in the information Gideon was able to dig up."

"Sounds like a plan," Sara replied.

"Would it really have ruined your appetite?" Kendra asked once Rip was out of earshot. "Or would you have been able to answer his questions without any problems?"

Leonard shrugged. "I would've been fine. But what's the point of a good meal if I can't enjoy it in relative peace?"

The demigoddess grinned. "And what's the point of being teacher's pet if you can't use Gideon to mess with the captain, right?"

"That, too." Leonard finished the last bite of potatoes and moved on to draining his mug. Despite Mick's complaints, the cocoa _was_ one of the better kinds; Gideon didn't make it with powder but rather synthesized it as a single liquid, which produced the perfect blend of bitter chocolate and sweet cream with every mouthful and no chocolate muck waiting at the bottom. Once he'd finished the last couple of drops, he dumped the remaining chocolate-soaked marshmallows onto the saucer and ate them for his dessert.

Mick reached for the plate, and Leonard quickly slid it away, but the thief gave only a half-hearted growl when Sara and Kendra each stole a marshmallow for themselves.

"So, this, uh... what did Snart call it?" Kendra asked Sara. "Whatever Savage is looking for in Nanda Parbat. It has something to do with the League, right?"

"I'm not sure," the assassin admitted. "I mean, Nanda Parbat is located in Tibet, but the name Leonard gave Rip—al Eanqa'—that's Arabic, it means 'the phoenix.' You're hardly going to find _those_ two details put together unless it has something to do with the League. But I've never heard of anyone by that name in any of our history."

"The name al Eanqa' appeared multiple times in the Shadow Record until the early fifteenth century," Gideon replied. A hologram of the document appeared on the middle of the table. "Four times, to be precise. Given the repetition, it appears to be a title of some kind, rather than a League name, though I have been unable to locate any detail that identifies who held that title. But in the year 1438, the title was struck from their records." Another document appeared next to the old. Even though Gideon had shown them the documents in Arabic instead of translating them, Leonard was able to easily pick out the differences. "Not only did the title never reoccur, but every previous mention of it had been erased. For Vandal Savage to uncover that name in connection to the League, he would have required access to a version of the Record that predates the erasure."

Sara frowned. "A copy of the Shadow Record was known to have gone missing in 1438," she said. "Stolen by outsiders, or so it was believed."

"Stolen by Savage, probably," Leonard said.

Sara nodded. "Sounds like it."

"I don't know..." Kendra said. "When Carter and I first met—in _this_ incarnation, I mean—he said that Savage would have wanted nothing to do with the League."

"I'm... sorry?" Sara replied. "How would he know that?"

"I'm not sure," Kendra admitted. "He never really explained it. But he seemed pretty confident."

Leonard frowned. "Phoenix... that's what you said it translates to. Savage was researching something called the Elixir of the Phoenix. It looked like he was trying to find a way to neutralize it."

Sara shook her head. "That doesn't make any sense. That elixir is just used in a cleansing ritual; I mean, Ra's al Ghul used the Lazarus Pit before Nyssa destroyed it, but anyone else who was authorized to handle his weapons and armor—his Horsemen or his heir—was required to drink the elixir every new moon. But that's all it's for; there wouldn't be anything for Savage to neutralize."

"Do you know what's in this drink?" Mick asked.

"Not really," Sara admitted. "I've been required to deliver it to the Horsemen before, but I've never been authorized to help make it."

"There you go, then." Mick shrugged. "Maybe Savage knows something you don't. Or he _thinks_ he does, anyway."

Leonard tilted his head to address the ceiling. "What do you think, Gideon?"

"There are no records of how the elixir is made," the AI replied. "The information was not lost or stolen from them; the League simply never wrote it down."

"So to find out what Savage is up to," Leonard said, "we'll have to find this elixir at its source."

"Indeed," Rip replied. "Gideon, set a course for Nanda Parbat, in the year 1438. At the last known sighting of the Phoenix."

"At once, Captain."

Leonard sighed. "Looks like break time's over."

Rip waved in the direction of the bridge. "Shall we?"

* * *

 **No, I was _not_ hungry when I wrote this. Or at least not until after I wrote it. ;) I just wanted to explore what sort of meal Len might enjoy, given his tendency in my fanfics to wander off when he's not supposed to for some fine dining, when he's allowed the opportunity to simply enjoy himself.  
Of course I chose foods _I'd_ enjoy but Gideon's "you're learning" comment is based on the fact that I'd done a little digging into foods with healing properties (referencing the fact that he woke up in the Med Bay following an unspecified attack) before I made those selections.**

 **Linked fics:  
Len's injuries, as per the first couple of paragraphs, follow immediately upon a fight that occurs late in the story Catalyst. (Though since I do that to him a lot, technically this scene could occur anywhere in my fics. It's other dropped references throughout the entire fic that require the timing to be more precise.) Likewise I have it that the information Len uncovered about Savage was something he'd found when he was away from the Waverider in Flash episode Infantano Street.  
Carter mentioned the Phoenix and the League name in Necropolis (which takes place between episodes one and two of the show) and refers to both the Elixir and the likelihood of Savage avoiding the League in the Phoenix chapter of What If (during an alternate version of his introduction in crossover episode Legends of Today). He actually _did_ explain why Savage would want to avoid the League (and by extension why Savage would be trying to find a way to neutralize said elixir) in What If, but here I'm assuming that he didn't go into quite as much detail about the elixir as he did in that version of events... or maybe he explained that part in Arabic so only Oliver (and the eavesdropping Malcolm) knew what he was saying. Why the elixir was required every new moon is, again, given in that chapter.**


	2. Finding the Phoenix

**In which the Legends of Tomorrow arrive in fifteenth-century Nanda Parbat, Sara is confused by the League's behavior, and the team finds themselves in a fight for their lives... in more ways than one.**

 **All characters seen or mentioned copyright DC, CW, et al.**

* * *

The Waverider set down in the mountains of Nanda Parbat.

Movement flickered in one corner of Kendra's vision, and she looked over to see the team's thief walk up to the main window. His skin twitched every time he tried to suppress a shudder at the sight before him.

"So what's the plan?" she asked.

Rip examined his laser pistol before returning it to its holster. "Ordinarily I would argue _against_ bringing along future tech," he said. "But this is the League of Assassins we'll be dealing with, and most of us have already seen what they're capable of. If it comes to a fight, anything less than our best would mean certain death."

"Ah, see, I knew you cared," Ray said.

"Future corpses can be just as damaging to the timeline as future tech," Leonard drawled. "We don't want to leave _anything_ behind. Especially to the League."

Ray frowned.

"That is correct," Rip said. "And that includes future ammunition. We do not _use_ that tech—or powers," he added with a look at Firestorm, "unless we have no other choice."

"Got it," Firestorm said. "No fire, no flying. At least not until the League picks a fight with us."

"Like the lady asked," Leonard said, "what's the plan, _captain_? Where do you want us to start?"

"Off-hand, I'd say we start there." Rip pointed at one of the Waverider's security monitors.

On the screen, a procession made its way toward the cliff. At the front were the only two unarmed men. The first carried a chain that hung so low it dragged on the ground before it led back up to bind the wrists of the second. The second man, despite the chain and a bag tied over his head, walked easily, nearly side-by-side with the first.

"A prisoner?" Leonard asked.

Sara shook her head. "I wouldn't think so. In our era, if a prisoner is to be executed it's usually done fast, to show mercy. Even when Ra's wanted someone tortured, I'd never seen the League make a production out of it like this." She looked at Leonard. "We _need_ to know what's going on down there."

Leonard grimaced and nodded.

—PHOENIX—

"Why doesn't he try to escape?" Kendra muttered. In the time it had taken for them to creep close enough for her to see with her enhanced vision, the prisoner's wrists had been unlocked, and the chain taken and wrapped around his body from his knees to the middle of his chest. There was only enough slack to allow him to maintain his balance, but the man had held still throughout the entire procedure, allowing himself to be bound.

His hood remained in place, concealing any features that even Kendra's power would have allowed her to see. And yet there was something familiar about him.

"Drugged?" Sara suggested. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I really don't know, I don't understand _anything_ about what's going on right now. Whatever they're doing, it's too different than the League I'm familiar with."

Leonard pulled a small device from his pocket to Sara. "Here, maybe this will help."

Sara glanced at the device. It looked like an earpiece, with a wire leading to a tiny satellite dish. "What's that?"

"Spy gear," Leonard said with a grin. "It should help you to hear them." He shrugged. "Wiretapping is usually more effective, especially with a dish that size, but I'm going to guess they have no wires to tap."

Sara nodded and put the smaller end of the device inside of her ear. She frowned. "Should've brought one of the Waverider's language pills."

Rip rolled his eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you people, they're not _pills_ , they're... never mind, I give up."

"Wouldn't they be speaking Arabic?" Ray asked. "I thought you were fluent in that."

"The language _has_ changed a bit over the last six hundred years," Sara replied. "It's going to take me a little extra time to figure out what they're saying."

The League's prisoner turned his head in the team's direction, and Kendra suppressed a shiver.

"Al Eanqa'," Sara muttered. "Ra's al Ghul just called him al Eanqa'. Guys, that's gotta be our Phoenix."

"Any connection to the elixir?" Leonard asked.

"I don't _know_ ," Sara insisted. Her eyes widened. "And we don't have long to find out, I think they're going to throw him off the cliff!"

Leonard's expression twisted into a snarl. "No, they're _not_ ," he growled. He activated the cold gun and raced towards the procession, the rest of his team close behind.

It didn't take the League long to react to the team's appearance, and the battle had begun.

Firestorm and Ray took into the air to strike at their opponents from above. Leonard, Mick, and Rip separated to pick off the enemy from a distance, and Sara met the League with a flurry of knife and staff. Kendra, despite her wings, preferred to stay low to the ground and swung the borrowed mace at every assassin who got past the team's guard.

They were outnumbered and outclassed, yet the team fought to a draw. The bound man remained in the center of the League, neither being forced closer to the cliff nor able to escape from his captors, but for reasons unknown the assassins did not press their attack.

And then it happened. One of the assassins threw a dagger in Leonard's direction. The blade hit his cold gun, slicing through the metal and drawing sparks. The thief dropped the weapon, threw his arms up to protect his face as the miniature explosion pushed him back one, two, three critical steps...

Kendra could see with her enhanced vision as his hands reached out for a nonexistent handhold, see his mouth drop open and his pupils dilate at what she assumed must be the very _instant_ he realized where the fight had taken him, before he lost his balance and fell backwards.

"Snart!" The demigoddess dashed towards the cliff. But even with her wings to carry her above the battle, she was too far away and not fast enough to catch him.

In the time it took for Kendra to reach the spot where Leonard had disappeared, the League's prisoner had broken free of his chains, torn off his hood, and raced past her to leap over the edge. She'd seen him for only an instant, a mere glimpse of his face, and yet she was sure he'd looked like...

 _Carter?_

* * *

 **"How many times do I have to tell you people, they're not _pills_ , they're... never mind, I give up"  
I cannot for the life of me remember if the dialogue ever gave these things an official name, but I can't be bovvered to rewatch White Knight (their first appearance if I recall correctly) just for a single term. Nor do I have the slightest idea if they ever appeared in the comics, so no idea where to even start searching if I tried that route.**

 **Linked fics:  
** **Why Sara specifically looks at Len regarding seeing what's going on is due to  
a) the mature-rated Confessions ficlet, in a scene in which Len had admitted to her about having holes in his memory regarding the League (and as much as he relies on his eidetic memory, anything that can take it away that easily is enough to scare him off), and she offers to help him learn the cause of those holes, and  
b) an as-yet-unwritten scene/chapter/whatever in Catalyst that takes place following the events of Legends episode Left Behind.  
The "reincarnating nut job" Carter hinted, once to Sara and once in the narrative, at having history of his own with the League in a couple of chapters of the ficlet Necropolis.**


	3. Mistaken Identity

**In which the Legends discover that the League's "prisoner" is anything but, and Sara is more confused than ever.**

 **All characters seen or mentioned copyright DC, CW, et al.**

* * *

"Snart!" Kendra shrieked.

Sara whipped her head around in time to see Leonard lose his balance and fall backwards off the cliff. Kendra flew after him, but in the time it took her to reach the spot where the thief had disappeared, the League's prisoner had broken free of his chains, torn off the hood, and pushed past the demigoddess to launch himself over the edge.

 _The hell?_

"Ray!" Sara called up.

The man in the flying armor paused between shots and flew low.

Sara pointed to the edge where Leonard had fallen. "Help them!"

Kendra shook off her stupor and leaped over the edge, and Ray darted down behind her.

 _Leonard..._ Sara forced herself to concentrate on the fight. There was _nothing_ she could do to help the thief now, and allowing herself to dwell on even so important of a distraction would only get the rest of the team killed.

" _Oh, my god,_ " Ray muttered before he fell silent.

Sara and Mick exchanged a glance before they returned their attention to the fight.

The seconds dragged on. The team found themselves pushed together against a sheer rock wall. Firestorm joined them on the ground and continued flinging fireballs where there was less risk of catching his friends in the attack.

And finally, _finally_ , Kendra flew back over the cliff to join the team, and Ray flew up to watch the battle from above...

Without either Leonard or the League's prisoner.

"Ray!" Sara screamed into her comm. "Where is he?"

" _Ow_ ," Ray complained. " _A little quieter next time, please?_ "

Kendra shook her head. "We didn't need to do anything. Snart—"

"The fuck do you mean you didn't need to?" Mick growled. "Len—"

"ENOUGH!" a voice roared from above and echoed through the mountains.

"—is safe," Kendra finished. But her eyes were wide and the color had drained from her face.

A man, winged as Kendra was, hovered over the battle. "Lower your weapons!" he growled in English. " _All_ of you!"

The dialect was odd, older by far than even the era the team had arrived in, but the command was unmistakable.

Rip let his laser pistol fall to the ground and he put up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

" _Uh, what are you doing?_ " Ray asked. " _Pretty sure he's not talking to us._ "

"Oh, I'm fairly confident that he is," Rip muttered back.

The League backed away from the team, providing the winged man a clear space to land. He drifted to the top of the rock wall, crouched, and turned to address someone behind him in Arabic.

" _It is all right, my friend,_ " Sara heard Carter's voice over the comms, speaking a dialect common to the team's era. " _You are safe now. We are back on solid ground._ "

"What the... Gideon?" she asked.

" _I can translate as long as you are close enough to pick them up on the comms,_ " the AI replied. " _This method is unfortunately limited; given enough time I could process any language you require, but in real time I am only able to translate into a variant of the language being spoken._ "

"Well, that answered _one_ of my questions," Sara muttered.

"Meaning only Sara and Rip will understand them?" Kendra asked. "Even _with_ you translating for us."

" _As long as they're speaking Arabic, yes,_ " Gideon said.

Sara twisted around to see what little was visible from her vantage point. She watched Leonard slide from the demigod's back and huddle, shaking, on the ground before Carter draped a single wing around him and concealed him from view.

"Thank god," she breathed.

Carter's expression was hard as his gaze traveled from one member of their team to the next, his eyes lingering on Sara and longer on Kendra, and then finally to the League.

" _Ra's!_ " he called out.

The man who had led him in chains stepped forward. " _Yes, my lord?_ " he replied in Arabic.

Sara gave a start. _My lord?_ No, of course she had translated it wrong. Or Gideon had. Ra's al Ghul was the ruler of the League, Carter should've been calling _him_ "my lord."

" _Must we continue this charade_ every _time?_ " Carter asked.

" _Apologies, my lord,_ " Ra's said, " _but it is written in the scrolls—it was_ your _orders that we should test your claim to guard against imposters!_ "

" _To test the_ claimants _, yes,_ " Carter agreed. He waved one hand at Sara's team. " _But not bystanders who don't know I'm being tested!_ "

" _Be that as it may,_ " Ra's said, " _they_ have _intruded upon us. Upon the day of your ascension. Perhaps you would care to offer a recommendation as to their fate?_ "

" _I'm taking this one to my chambers,_ " Carter replied. He shrugged the wing he'd wrapped around the shaken thief.

Ra's lifted one eyebrow. " _Shall I have him bathed for you?_ " he asked in a mild tone.

Sara glowered at the man. Small miracle that Leonard didn't understand Arabic; with his childhood traumas and all that the suggestion implied...

" _To_ recover _,_ " Carter growled. " _You're not as funny as you think you are. Send up two vials of my elixir and a healer to tend to him._ "

Ra's nodded. " _And these others...?_ "

" _Intruders they may be, and ignorant of our customs, but they appear to have fought in my defense,_ " Carter admitted. " _I would learn why. Give them another thirty seconds to decide whether to lower their arms. Spare both women, and any of the men who surrender; I'll speak to them after I've settled him. As for the rest..._ " His gaze traveled up to where Ray continued to fly overhead. " _Use them as target practice._ " He pulled Leonard to his feet and walked away, leaving Sara's team to face the League.

Sara gulped. "Ray, get down here now. Get your armor off as quick as you can. The rest of you, drop your weapons."

"Why?" Firestorm asked. "Carter's got them scared. Too bad he couldn't reincarnate in time to help us in 1960, kinda looks like they're doing whatever he tells them."

"Yeah, well, 'Carter' just told the League to use us as _target practice_ if we don't surrender!"

Silence met her statement.

"Drop. The weapons. _Now_ ," she repeated. "That means you, Mick!" She gently laid down her knives and staff, and hardly dared to breathe until she heard the team following her lead.

" _I have an idea,_ " Ray said. " _Firestorm, don't separate yet._ "

"Whatever you're planning," Firestorm muttered, "do it fast."

Ray flew down to land next to the metahuman. "Ready when you are."

At the very instant Firestorm separated into Martin and Jefferson, Ray used the ATOM suit's controls to shrink. As a result, the League wouldn't notice that a member of their team had gone missing... or so Sara assumed was Ray's plan.

" _I think I know my way to the dungeon by now,_ " Ray said on the comms. " _I'm going to see where he's taking Snart._ "

Ra's and ten of his followers approached the team. He looked back and forth between Martin and Jefferson. "What has happened to the armor?" he asked the professor.

"It, uh... it only appears if I am ready to join battle," Martin replied.

" _Okay, yeah,_ " Ray muttered over the comms. " _That'll work._ "

Ra's frowned and drew his sword.

"Wait!" Sara said. " _He told you to spare us if we surrender,_ " she said in Arabic.

Ra's nodded. "That he did," he replied in English. "And I believe I see why. Your dialect is unfamiliar, but you fight like one of ours." He turned his gaze on Kendra. "And _you_ fly as al Eanqa' does, with wings like his own; he'd said there was another like himself but I never imagined I'd have the opportunity to meet you. Whatever he expects to learn from your men, I look forward to seeing him interrogate the pair of you." He turned his head to address his followers. " _Take them all to the dungeon,_ " he told them in Arabic. " _Take them, but_ gently _. They are to be treated well, and are not to be harmed before al Eanqa' has dealt with them._ "

Sara shivered. Jefferson was right; for whatever reason the League _was_ following Carter's orders. But he wasn't Carter as the team once knew him. This incarnation might have sensed who Kendra was—which was probably the only reason they hadn't been killed on the spot—but he viewed the rest of them as strangers, and rightly so.

Leonard's eventual fate remained a mystery, but they wouldn't be able to save him until they'd saved themselves.

And Carter planned to _interrogate_ them. Whatever he might have done to them in another incarnation, a League interrogation never ended well.

* * *

 **Couldn't decide whether to include "Carter"'s shout in, well, shouty capitals or emphasized italics, but since I've _been_ using italics on complete sentences to indicate "off screen" dialogue (such as dialogue spoken over the comms) or translated dialogue (as opposed to italicizing one or two words in a longer sentence where the italics exist solely for emphasis), I thought capitalizing that one-word sentence would be clearer than italics.**

 **Linked fics:**  
 **The ficlet Necropolis alludes to the events of this exact chapter during a scene told from Carter's perspective.**  
 **The "shall I have him bathed for you" comment alludes to the "bathe her and bring her to my chambers" trope (god, I had a hard time figuring out how to indicate he was being sarcastic without just _saying_ it ); Sara's reaction to the implication is due to what she found out about Len during the mature-rated Confessions arc... mature rated precisely because of how that implication related to his _childhood_.**


End file.
